


In a Day or Two

by RichmanSFW



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Epilogue, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28641378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichmanSFW/pseuds/RichmanSFW
Summary: Ellie comes home.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	In a Day or Two

Her first steps back in Jackson are a regretful few. A million thoughts having raced through her mind as she walked her way there. No good would come from her return, she was sure of it. A look of concern from Maria for starters, several tears to shed - more for Tommy’s sake than her own, at this rate. A look of scorn from him and the unfathomable sadness to be found in the tired, weathered creases of his face. How far he had fallen. It would have made her sick were it not for how numb she already felt - nothing but a lingering shred of hope amidst a sea of dread showering her nerves now. 

Ellie breathes a small sigh after she’s welcomed inside—the mixture of warmth and remorse upon her return a woeful cacophony of sounds that make her ears ring. Not unlike the horrid screech of months prior. It’s of a different decibel now. Quieter, hollow. It delights her, just slightly, to see so many regulars once more but the feeling twists into her like a knife. A molten hot, serrated wound that makes her knees want to buckle. She’s not the girl she used to be. Some part of them knows that.

She forces a smile upon the familar sights and sounds. Jackson’s seen its ups and downs over the years but it always persists. In that respect, the town seems... unfazed, unchanged, whereas she feels like a phantom. The shape of a person still, but, without the warmth, the agency. A ghost wading through town. A tumbleweed like in the old movies she used to watch with him. She recognizes some acquaintances of course, friendly or otherwise. It’s a good feeling. She briefly spots Gustavo - still in his chair, his calloused fingers still plucking away at the strings of his instrument. 

The normalcy reminds her of something old, something better.

In such short time Ellie’s world had been torn to shreds, hastily put back together, and then forced to wither. She thinks of the farm again. Of the love of her life, and her little potato. She thinks of the regret and sorrow, the scars and nightmares that eroded the foundations. Slowly, like how an infection spreads until what once was no longer is. Yet the town—her town, once—would survive. Weathered yet no less willful. She finds the smallest of comforts in that, but it isn’t why she’s there.

...

She’s with her parents again. Surely. It made sense, it was the responsible choice. It takes Ellie little time to figure that out and where to find them. She has to try. If not for reconciliation then at least... closure.

Closure. 

A sensation in short supply. She’d take it wherever she was able to find it.

The sun is bright that day. The warmth in the air is not quite summer but it’s close, it’s coming. She liked it warm. Too many cold nights spent alone in a mess of sobs, or injuries to nurse, or the lingering fear that infected would break the flimsy protection of whatever defenses she could manage, out in the wild. 

Dina’s house—her parent's house—it’s nice, well kept. A shade of withering maroon. A nice enough color, a color that reminds Ellie of her. Constantly. She holds the strap of her bag closely. 

Her fingers trace the absence of the two that were gone—the injury having healed, yet would ache all the same. A tingling sensation, a feeling she preferred to ignore. It would look shameful. It would look ugly. Dina was going to reject her. If she even bothered to open the door. If she was even there at all.

The last few steps Ellie takes are fraught with trepidation. With so much left in her rear-view, there was hardly a light to look for anymore. A life pillaged by the crushing dark. When she knocks, she does so with a few, careful taps. 

No response.

Ellie purses her lips, the green of her eyes focusing into something sharp. Something stronger than she’s able to muster. So, she pretends. 

She knocks again after a few more seconds of waiting.

There’s a noise, heard distantly, muffled from the inside. She’s not sure what—or who—it is, but... it’s a start. She hears footsteps. Then, the lock of the door coming undone. 

When it opens, Ellie meets Dina’s eyes. Slowly but surely. And suddenly everything else comes to a stop. No detail, no people, no neighborhood. Nothing but a haze of sight and sound, a blur in the backdrop of their meeting. She meets her partner’s eyes and then, to Ellie’s everlasting chagrin, all the words she wishes to say simply do not come. Everything she’s built in her mind; the reason, the apology, the longing. All of it fades. Her lips part to speak, the sorrowful glaze in her eyes becoming increasingly clear. Words fail her. She drops her bag, the small thud as it hits the floorboards a discomforting tune.

She knows not what Dina’s thinking, but there’s an attempt. She sees a flurry of emotion written all over her girlfriend’s face. Shock, sorrow, relief, resentment. So much in so few seconds. 

Dina drinks it in. She sees her. Ellie’s here and she’s safe and sound and stupid and she’s _here_. 

She’s back.

Dina’s lips purse and her jaw clenches. Her eyes track the growing sorrow in Ellie’s own, the dryness of her lips, the fingers that are now missing. Ellie tries to hide them but she just... can’t. Dina steps back slightly, but there’s something in the look she gives. How her brows furrow. Ellie knows it well. The space between anger and relief. It’s clear she wants just as badly to say something. Anything. But words fail her.

It feels like ages, the moments between them. Eons of longing and frustration and tenderness. Ellie considers a joke, something to break the ice. She considers mentioning JJ, how much she needs her little potato again.

Instead, the girl begins to cry. Uniquely yet entirely the same as she always had. She begins to cry and suddenly, she’s young again. She’s bitten, and loses Riley. She’s shocked, losing Tess, Sam, Henry. She’s angry again, her choice being taken away, being lied to, losing him. Losing everybody she had come to love. She begins to cry, and Dina does too. 

She falls into her arms, a broken mess of sobs. Dina holds her close. Tighter than anything she had held onto before. Their embrace is sudden but warm. Dina wants to chide her, wants to lash out and reject, but... she can’t. She doesn’t. 

But Ellie knows a part of her still wants to. And that makes her cry all the more.

Her stance weakens, and soon the two women are on the floor, still in the doorway with their embrace. Ellie’s arms wrap around her tightly, refusing to let go. She knows not if Dina is capable of forgiving her, well and true.

But as Dina tightens the embrace, burying her head into the crook of Ellie’s neck... 

Hopefully, she would like to try.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow [@RichmanSFW](https://twitter.com/RichmanSFW) to keep up with my stories, my commission info, and my insanity.


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